The More Things Change
by Vespera1
Summary: Set five years in the future,Let me know if you think its good bad or indifferent. I just uploaded the last three chapters in a lump, this story is DONE!
1. Chapter 1

*** Disclaimer: I do not own Max Steel or any of his friends, enemies, relatives or pets. They belong to WB (I think) and a bunch of other people. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is not to be taken internally. I make no money from this, I write these things for my own amusement. I do own Alice Dread. If you want to use her, email me. There. Now you can't sue my broke butt.  
  
Read and review please, either here or emails are welcome if you want to turn it into a discussion. vespera_blaze@yahoo.com .   
  
  
It was a beautiful day, not a cloud to be seen anywhere in the sky. It was warm, but not stifling hot, a balmy May afternoon that had everything going for it. Josh looked around, awestruck by how nearly perfect everything was. The park they were in stood on a bluff that overlooked the ocean, and the sound of the breakers against the walls beneath them was so deep it was felt more than it was heard. The scent of flowers hung heavily in the air, and the entire area was carpeted in neatly trimmed thick green grass. The murmer from the guests that filled the seats was a soothing counterpoint to his own thoughts.   
  
He had never imagined he would be standing here, not in a million years. He glanced down at his tuxedo, and absently tugged on the collar. It felt as if the tailor had cut it half a size too small. He seemed to be having some problems swallowing. The priest and the rest of the people waiting in front of the altar seemed too calm and composed for his tastes, turned expectantly towards the rear waiting for the second guest of honor to put in her appearance. Josh scanned the faces while nervously running a hand through his blonde hair.   
  
In the first row of seats to his left, Rachel smiled at him and leaned over to say something quietly to Kat. Both were dressed in their best, and looked stunning. Rachel stuck with the slightly conservative look she had nearly trademarked, in a green long sleeve dress that reached mid calf and swirled loosely around her tanned legs. The embroidery pattern on the dress was subdued, a leaf and vine pattern around the hem and across the bodice. Kat, who always looked to dress on the edge, wore a sarong in a deep burn orange color, the swathes of material wrapped around her torso and legs many times. She had let her hair grow out over the last few years, and the brown curls framed her face, softening her angular cheekbones and lips. She was still whipcord thin, and tough as nails, but she no longer felt she had anything to prove to the rest of the group.  
  
Kat listened to what Rachel told her, and threw back her head with a laugh. She shot a look at Roberto where he stood next to Josh in his own tuxedo, then turned back to whisper with Rachel. "Do you ever get the feeling people are talking about you?" Roberto said out of the corner of his mouth to Josh.  
  
"All the time bro. How are things going between you and Kat any ways? She was giving you the cold shoulder for the last few days I've noticed." Josh said.  
  
Roberto grimaced. "Sometimes its up, sometimes its down. Really hard to call which its going to be on what days Hermano." He shifted from foot to foot before standing still again. "I think part of it is neither of us know how to deal with it if it gets too heavy. I mean, we've been a team for over five years now, and she and I have been a couple for most of that. It's starting to stress both of us out. I get tied up in knots whenever you two hit something dangerous, afraid that this is the mission she's not coming back from. She doesn't want me getting overprotective. It's complicated." He ran his fingers through his hair "But hey, this is a wedding, not a time for you to be listening to my girl troubles, Josh."  
  
Josh was saved from answering by an opening chord from the string quartet sitting unobtrusively near the rear of the gather. As one a hundred pairs of eyes swiveled towards the arch and the young lady who stood there. If Rachel and Kat were stunning today, Laura was radiant in her white gown. She looked up through the wisp of veil that covered the front of her face, a smile tugging at her lips. Josh felt his heart give a lurch as he looked at her. As the musicians began playing the traditional song, she started up the aisle left between the chairs, moving at a stately pace, her father proudly holding one arm.   
  
Josh leaned over to Pete and whispered. "You are the luckiest man on the planet today."  
  
The groom looked at his best man and replied. "Don't I know it." Pete's eyes slid away from Josh's and were once more locked on his fiance's as she made her way towards the altar.  
  
Josh stood there, thinking back. He had never really expected to be here, doubly so for Laura marrying Pete. He remembered the last fight they had before they had broken up for good, where he had tried to explain what had happened and who he was. The shock for him had come when Laura pointed out that she had figured out he was both Josh McGrath and Max Steel months before. She didn't understand the full change, but had asked him if he truly thought she wouldn't recognize him, no matter what he looked like on the outside? She had come to terms with his dual life she had said, but she couldn't accept it, or the amount of risk it put him in. Then the ultimatum. It was to be her, or N-Tek. She explained that she could not deal with the thought of him not coming back one day. The similarities between their situation then, and the one Roberto and Kat faced now were not lost on Josh. He hoped they had a happier choice than his ahead of them. In the end, he'd chosen the team, and lost the girl.   
  
Laura reached the altar, and the minister began to speak. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God…"  
  
Josh stood there as the minister ran through the ceremony. As the couples read the vows they had written, he allowed his eyes to roam over the crowd of guests, many smiling, some weeping. A movement caught his attention and he watched a young woman who had stopped a ways back to watch the ceremony in the park without intruding. She had a blanket over one arm, and a book in the other hand. She stood silently, then with a shrug and a small smile turned away and walked towards another area of the park as if she didn't have a care in the world.   
  
Josh frowned, then shrugged it off as over trained nerves. There had been something about that smile that seemed familiar, but he knew he had never met that short brunette before in his life. He'd developed an excellent memory for faces and when the team had returned to Del Oro and taken up residence with N-Tek. The nanoprobes had finally managed to integrate with his brain as well as his muscles and nervous system, and as a result his ability to learn, recognize and remember had all been enhanced. They were still running endless tests to see how deep the nanoprobes had actually gone, and what effects all of the changes had.  
  
His thoughts were brought back to the present as Pete nudged him sharply in the ribs. "Huh, what?" he whispered.  
  
"Give. Me. The. Ring." Pete enunciated clearly, his exasperation and the giggles from the crowd telling Josh this wasn't the first time he had asked.  
  
"Oh! Uh, sorry man. Here." Josh blushed and the giggling got louder as he fumbled the ring out of his pocket and presented it to Pete. Laura grinned at him and rolled her eyes, and Josh smiled back.  
  
Take better care of her than I did Pete. He thought silently. 


	2. Chapter 2

Psycho paced the room, back and forth like a caged tiger. Ten steps, spin on his heel, and back in the other direction. Ten steps turn, ten steps turn. Dread looked up in irritation. "Will you stop loping back and forth Sam? You are giving me a headache!"  
  
Psycho stopped and turned to face the desk. "We've known each other for ten years. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Psycho?" he asked.  
  
"Fine then, Psycho, is everything on your end ready?"  
  
"Like I told you last week. Everything is set. All I need is the word for when to start. What's taking you so long?"  
  
"Psycho, DREDD has been reeling ever since you didn't stop Vitriol from turning states evidence three years ago. We lost nearly all of our holdings, 90% of our employees and most of our former contacts still won't have anything to do with us, even now. If we rush this and get caught, that's the end of DREDD and everything we hoped to gain with it. I don't know about you, but I have some serious reservations about that. If working slowly keeps our collective butts out of the fire, so be it."  
  
"You worry too much."  
  
"We are doing this my way. No improvisation on your part, understood?"  
  
Psycho took a step forward and looked down at the person behind the desk. He flexed his flesh arm and stated in a quiet voice. "You aren't your father, Alice. Even he doesn't talk to me that way."  
  
Alice Dread stood slowly, and looked up into Psycho's face. "I realize I am not my father. I have no intentions of making the same mistakes he did. One of which was giving you too much freedom to act. We have a working plan here. It's simple, direct and has an excellent chance of actually working. Team Steel won't be expecting it, we've kept everything under the radar while we rebuilt dad's organization. He left me in charge, and through the legal holdings I've managed to recoup most of our losses, and even make some advances. Dad decided to give me a chance at the real work in DREDD, and I don't plan on messing up my first assignment by rushing into it!  
  
"Max Steel will be delivered to the lab on schedule, but if we want to keep the rest of the team from showing up and springing him before we get what we need we have to have everything in place, not just most of it."   
  
Psycho stared down at the young woman in front of him. She'd come a long way from the pimply faced little teenager that called him 'Uncle' so many years ago. John had sent her to be schooled in several different boarding schools in Europe before bringing her home at eighteen. That was right around the time he had first gone to N-Tek to steal the probes and had accidentally created Max by dumping the goo on the brat in the lab. Alice had been kept briefed by her father on all of the situations as they happened, and placed at the head of several of DREDD's above board holdings throughout the world under the company name Destiny Enterprises. When DREDD had gone down for the count, she had successfully managed to sever all paper ties to Destiny Enterprises and had escaped the fallout unscathed.   
  
She had arranged her fathers final escape from prison, and subsequent disappearance while she funneled money and resources back into rebuilding her fathers empire. The launch date was less than a week away. Psycho sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. John had told him to listen to what Alice said, and as much as he wanted to tear that smugly superior look off her face, he'd put up with it for his one friend. For now.  
  
Alice read his sigh as agreement, and a small smile played across her lips as she sat down. She'd never let him see it, but Uncle Sammy, Psycho, scared her now that she was older. She truly understood at this point exactly how unpredictable he could be, and how short he could make her life if he wanted to, promise to her father or no.  
  
"When everything is in place, we go at 1300 hours on Wednesday afternoon. Then, one way or another it will all be over." She said.  
  
Psycho nodded once sharply, spun on his heel one last time and left the office. 


	3. Chapter 3

Vitriol took aim and fired off a rapid succession of shots. Kat flipped, somersaulted, cartwheeled and dove out of the way of each one, some missing by mere inches. Max' response was different, he avoided the first shot and went to stealth mode, cheating Vitriol of a second target.  
  
"Thanks a lot Steel!" Kat called when Vitriol began concentrating all of his fire on her. She had to work hard to avoid being blasted by the green energy bolts he was generating.  
  
"You're welcome!" Max called, still invisible.  
  
Vitriol grinned. "Wrong move Max!" his left arm moved out at a 45 degree angle and pulsed a vivid emerald, the blast erupting from his clenched fist. For a second it seemed that the blast halted of its own accord in midair, but the muffled yell from Max as the energy punched him in the gut showed exactly what it had come up against.  
  
The stealth mode shorted out and Max flew back, impacting with the wall before dropping limply to the floor. "Ouch." He muttered.  
  
"Max!" Kat cried. She moved left and Vitriol brought both arms to bear and fired. The move had been a feint. She dodged back to the right, then came straight up the middle towards him, moving in close before he could reorient his attack. Deprived of his long range attacks, he threw a punch at her head which she dodged easily, and returned. Hers connected.  
  
He skidded across the floor, one hand coming up to his jaw. Without a word, he scrambled to his feet and lunged towards her. Her foot snapped out in a kick, but he managed to catch it and pull her towards him and off balance. She wobbled there for a second then fell when he swept her other leg out from beneath her. One bionic arm pinned her wrists together and the other began to glow as he aimed towards her face. "Lights out, sweetheart."  
  
"My thoughts exactly." Max grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted him off the ground easily. His right fist came around, and tapped Vitriol lightly on the chin. "Point, game and match."  
  
"Alright you guys win. Put me down will ya?" Vitriol laughed as Max set him back on his feet. Turning around he leaned down and offered Kat a hand up, which she accepted. "Always fun to help you two out with your work outs. Keeps you from getting soft." He grinned.  
  
"Well, this set up beats when you were trying to take us out for real Adam." Max replied returning the grin. Three years ago Vitriol had turned himself in when he found out John Dread had decided he had outlived his usefulness and put a price on his head. It had nearly given the guard on the gate at the N-Tek compound a heart attack when Vitriol had calmly walked up to the gate, tapped on the window to get his attention, then sat down and waited to be arrested.   
  
It had taken Team Steel nearly two hours to make it back to Del Oro from their assignment that day, but Vitriol offered no trouble, just sat beside the road and watched the cars come and go. During his interrogation, he told N-Tek of his falling out with DREDD, his subsequent disillusionment about his career choice and offered to cut a deal. All of his information on the organization in return for no jail time and a safe house away from Dread's assassins. The information he provided was critical, and brought down the underworld empire in the course of a week. In return for his assistance, Vitriol was sentenced to "community service" and commanded to take up a position within N-Tek itself. The first six months had been tense, as neither side trusted the other.  
  
But Vitriol had been telling the truth when he stated a desire to go straight. He worked hard at the job he had been given, and kept his nose clean when he wasn't working. Roberto was the first one at N-Tek to break through his shell however. There had been a problem with his bionic arms, and Roberto was the only tech who what capable of fixing them, although Jefferson had to make it a direct order before he would even consider it. Vitriol and Roberto had talked for nearly an hour, finding a surprising amount in common with one another. The young scientist had been impressed. Now that Vitriol was getting counciling for some of the issues he had had, he was actually a pleasant person to be around. Roberto had prevailed on his friends, and they reluctantly began speaking to him. That tolerance slowly worked its way towards actual friendship over the years. Max still shook his head on that every once in a while, five years ago the only person to be less likely to turn into a friend was, well, Smiley! It was funny how growing up could change things.  
  
They continued to joke back and forth as everyone hit the showers and got changed into uniform. Vitriol waved goodbye and trotted down towards the motor pool. He was being loaned out to the Forestry people for the next few days to help fight fires in Washington. His energy blasts weren't "hot" so he was an excellent choice for helping to create firebreaks.  
  
Team Steel was getting ready to sit down to breakfast when their comm. beeped. Kat dived over the table and hit the receive button before either of the other two could move. "Kat here, what's up?" she called into the receiver.   
  
Jefferson Smith's face resolved itself on the screen. "Time to go to work Team Steel, Psycho's finally surfaced, and he's running true to form." He told them.  
  
"Typical." Muttered Max as he grabbed an apple and cast a wistful eye at the stack of pancakes on the table. "Oh well, next time." And headed towards the door with his teammates.  
  
Twenty minutes later, the three of them were ranged around a table in one of the briefing rooms. Jefferson stood at the head of the room next to the projection TV and started the briefing. "Half an hour ago Psycho broke into the labs at Genus Tech here in Del Oro. We don't know what he was looking for, but he seems not to have found it. He has between ten and fifteen people with him, and they are ranged throughout the entire building. The police are at a standstill, he has hostages, at least one. So far he as made no demands, save that everyone stay out of the building."  
  
As Jefferson spoke, choppy video was being played on the screen. It looked like it was taken by the buildings security system. It showed a set of offices, and Psycho ranting and raving in fine form. The two men in front of him cringed away, not wanting to get too close. Psycho yelled something else at them, and they scattered from the office. He flopped into a chair and put his feet up on the desk, staring at the door. In one corner of the room a movement caught Team Steel's collective eye. A young woman huddled there, wearing a lab coat that was torn across the shoulder. She shifted her weight again, and Psycho snapped something. She shrank back as if she was trying to melt into the wall.  
  
"That's the one confirmed hostage, looks to be a technician from one of the labs. Its still unknown if there are any other hostages elsewhere in the building. We haven't seen anyone. Standard mission people, make sure Psycho doesn't get whatever he's looking for, rescue the bystanders, you know the drill." Jefferson offered them a half hearted smile.  
  
The group swung into action with the ease of long practice. Roberto headed to the control room as Kat and Max made their way to the hanger and the current incarnation of the Hawk. "It's been a long time since we've had a mission this clear cut hasn't it Steel?" Kat said as she buckled her harness.  
  
"You got that right Kat. I'd thought Psycho had given this scene up as a bad idea. I mean, every other time he's made the six o'clock news, its because we kicked his ass. Now he's back to the same old thing."  
  
"Maybe it's a gift? You know, he thought we could use a trip down memory lane and a dose of nostalgia?"  
  
"You'll forgive me if I don't invite him out for a beer when this is all over." Max switched his attention. "We're strapped in and ready to go Berto."  
Roberto's voice came back over the bio-link. "Lifting off then." The Hawk rose and moved out the hanger. "Standard roof insertion for you two. Programming the coordinates now" The small plane accelerated quickly, gaining altitude over the city. It wasn't long at all before the Hawk was hovering over the roof of the Genus Tech building in stealth mode. The four story building was surrounded by police and barricades.   
  
Max and Kat dropped quickly, managing to avoid attracting any attention from the forces on the ground. They inserted themselves into the building without incident, then paused for a whispered conversation. "If Psycho's running true to form, there's a bomb in here somewhere as well" Kat glanced down the hallway, alert for any of Psycho's henchmen.  
  
"Betting that it's in the basement, he'd want to place it where it would do the most damage, and a bomb next to the foundation would bring the whole house down. You take the bomb, I'll go find Smiley and ask him what he was looking for here." Max' smile had little to do with humor.   
  
"Done deal. Catch you later Steel!" Kat dashed down the hallway heading for the stairs.  
  
Max engaged his own stealth mode, and began to sweep the top floor from north to south. He hit jackpot on his third door. Before he even opened it, he could hear Psycho on the other side of it, pacing and muttering to himself. "This is taking to damned long. If we had just done it my way to begin with, it would be over by now!"  
  
Max smiled to himself and lifted a foot. It didn't take much to boot the door off its hinges, and he toggled the stealth mode off as he entered the room. "Now Smiley, I don't think she really cares, do you?" he nodded to the young woman in the lab coat, still crouched where the camera had shown earlier.  
  
"She may not care, but you will." Psycho lunged over the desk at Max. Max sidestepped the charge easily, but Psycho spun quickly and backhanded him with his bionic arm.  
  
"Ugh!" Max flew into the wall and nearly landed on the brunette in the lab coat. She looks kind of familiar a side part of his brain noted in passing as he scrambled to his feet. He was sure he had seen her before and fairly recently at that. Before he could continue with that thought Psycho rushed him again, forcing him to defend himself. This time he couldn't sidestep or he'd give Smiley a chance to take the hostage again, so this dance would play out right here.  
  
Dance….the wedding! That was where he had seen her. She had been the stranger at Laura and Pete's wedding! He ducked a shot from Psycho and half turned, just in time to see the girl move. She pulled her hand from the pocket of the lab coat, and jammed the taser it held into his side. Max' world fragmented when the charge hit him, his vision shattering like a broken glass. It had been a set up… the whole thing a set up. His eyes cleared in time to make out Psycho's fist arcing towards his face, then blackness.  
  
Roberto watched in horror as the bio-link to Max went black. Whoever that girl was, she had played hell with the probes using that taser, and he didn't dare use a feedback pulse to wake Max up again so soon after that much electricity. He switched frequencies to Kat. "Kat, we've got problems!"  
  
"Tell me about it!" came the terse reply "I've got a box of C-4 explosive here and the sadist who built this bomb used nothing [ i ]but [/i ]red wires! I don't know how to disarm this thing!"  
  
Roberto took a deep breath. "Psycho has Max."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"The hostage wasn't a hostage, she was an accomplice. Between them they took Max down. He's unconscious and they're moving him, to the roof I think."  
  
"Damnit! I can't leave this thing here, it's timed to go off in ten minutes. There's no way I can get up there, stop them, and make it back down here to disarm this before it blows!" Kat sounded extremely frustrated. "Wait one…" her voice trailed off.  
  
Not for the first time did Roberto wish Kat had a bio-link as well. Working with Max had spoiled him, and sitting here now with no visual or sound was driving him to distraction. He knew better than to interrupt if she was working on the bomb though. If he startled her at the wrong moment, they would be picking her up with a blotter.  
  
"Alright!" Kat yelled suddenly, startling Roberto nearly out of his chair.  
  
"What? What's happening?"  
  
"We had a stroke of good luck. Whoever set this thing didn't get the motion sensor hooked up properly. If I just…" silence of a second, then "there. Bomb is no longer a problem, I just removed the detonator. As long as it isn't near the plastique when it finishes the count down, no explosion. Heading to the roof now. Do we have reinforcements on the way?"  
  
Roberto heaved a sigh of relief, then forced himself back into professional mode. "Yes we do, but their ETA isn't for another fifteen minutes. You're on your own for now."  
  
"Typical."  
  
Kat forced the elevator doors open and looked up. The elevator was at the top of the shaft, nearly perfect for what she had in mind. She took aim and shot the grapnel, then let the small motor mounted in the gun pull her up. She ground to a halt and reached over to grab the access ladder on the wall nearest her. Twisting a lever, she flattened against the wall as the elevator descended. Thank heavens I'm scrawny she thought to herself. Giving the same lever another half twist opened the doors on the fourth floor. She'd kept a running commentary going for Roberto so he knew what she was doing throughout all of this. Now she asked a specific question. "Is Max coming around at all?"  
  
"Not so much as a peep out of him, love. He's well and truly out of this one."  
  
"Damn. I'm on the fourth floor now. Heading back to our entrance point. Is the Hawk ready to go? It's been long enough that their ride has probably shown up."  
  
"Ready and waiting."   
  
Kat burst onto the roof and stopped dead. Not one, but four helicopters were parked there, one to each corner of the building. As she watched they all lifted off. She could catch one of them, but which one was the right one? As she stood there debating, she lost her chance and the copters moved to far away from the roof for her to reach. She ran for the Hawk and vaulted into the cockpit. "Berto, we have four bogeys up here and they're all going in separate directions. Do a sweep for the probes energy signature and tell me which one I'm supposed to chase!"  
  
"I'm on it!" Roberto punched numbers furiously into the computer, then looked up at the screen. An overlay map of the area surrounding the building came up, with four hostile blips on it and one friendly. One of the red hostiles was blinking. "Take the chopper to the…what the hell?" as he watched, the other choppers showed readings that Max was aboard them as well. Confused he saw more blips appear, each one showing Max' location. He typed a three word command sequence in and the map shrunk, becoming an overall map of Del Oro Bay. Hundreds of max signatures were showing up all over the city.  
  
"Berto! Which one?" Kat yelled.  
  
"I don't know!" he wailed. "They've covered Del Oro with counterfeit Max energy readings. I can't tell which one is the real one!"  
  
"Then its back to guesswork" Kat pulled the Hawk around in a tight arc and pulled alongside the helicopter that was moving south.   
  
The door on the side of the chopper slid open and Psycho leaned out, aiming a rocket launcher. "Eat this!" he screamed as he triggered the blast. Kat had no room to manouver, and no options left. She reached down between her legs and grabbed the panic stick. She jerked hard on it. Her neck snapped back as the ejection seat threw her from the Hawk a split second before it exploded.  
  
"Damn this all to hell!" she was nearly sick with frustration as she watched the chopper fade into the distance. "Berto, next time we redesign the Hawk, we leave the secondary flight mode in."  
  
"You got it." He replied. 


	4. Chapter 4

Max woke slowly with a headache that thrummed against his temples. He started to bring his hand to his head with a groan, but was brought up short by the length of high tension cable looped around his wrist. He tugged at it expirementally a few times, then turned his head to look at it. Or again, he tried. He became aware that his head was also held immobilized by something. Headache forgotten, he tested the rest of the restraints. All were firmly secured to the surface he was on.  
  
"It seems our patient is awake." The voice was deep, and not one Max had ever heard before, it came to him from somewhere over his left shoulder. With a whirring noise that immediately reminded him exactly how much his head ached, the table tilted up so he was nearly standing and then twisted 180 degrees. When Max' eyes focused on the scene in front of him, he wished they had left him in the dark.  
  
There were two people in the room. The man in the lab coat was in his mid fifties, what little hair he had left going to grey. His eyes were a watery blue color, and squinted near-sightedly from behind thick glasses. In one hand he held the controls to the operating table Max was strapped to. Because that was what it was. The room was an operating theatre, and besides the rows of machines that he didn't recognize there were a few trays of instruments he feverently hoped that they weren't going to be using on his body. The other person in the room was the young woman he had seen at the wedding. Brown hair, brown eyes, she was very plain and average looking, which was why he'd had such a hard time placing her as the 'hostage' of Psycho's. She was dressed conservatively, in a grey sweater and blue jeans, looking out of place in the sterile environment of the room they were in.  
  
Max stared at her, trying to place why she had looked so familiar to him, but wasn't getting anywhere. She returned his gaze, and the corner of her mouth quirked up self-consciously. Feeling uncomfortable, she turned to the man on her left. "Doctor, I would like to observe the procedures if you have no objections?" she asked  
  
The doctor harrumphed and adjusted his glasses. "Well, I don't see a problem with it Alice, however much of my work will not be for the squeamish. If I am to test the endurance and tolerances that the nanotechnology can imbue a human body with, I will have to take the subject to the edge of what can be endured, then beyond. The extraction process is also untested and I do not know what the results will be when applied to living flesh. It should be interesting, very interesting indeed." He turned away and gestured to an area free from machinery. "If you wish to bring a chair in, you can place it over there. You should not be in the way then."  
  
"Very good Doctor, I'll be right back, then you may begin." She moved towards the door.  
  
"Hey!" both the Doctor and Alice turned towards Max, who they had been ignoring up until now. "Don't I get a say in this?"  
  
"No." Alice continued towards the door.   
  
"Wait a minute, who are you any ways?" Max called again.  
  
"This is a bad time to be trying to flirt Steel." She laughed, knowing that was the last thing on his mind. "But I don't see how it hurts to tell you. My name is Alice. Alice Dread. I believe you know my father?" her voice was mocking.   
  
"He has a daughter?! We never knew…"  
  
"Exactly. You were never meant to. Now if you don't mind, we're holding up the good doctors work with this chitchat." She left the room and returned with a chair.  
  
"The floor is yours Doctor." She said.  
  
"Very good. Now, let's start with heat tolerance shall we? An non-enhanced human has a pain tolerance of about six when it comes to heat." The doctor pulled out a small metal coil with a handle and flicked a switch. He turned the dial on the side of it and looked into Max' face. Lets start with a five, and work our way up." He approached slowly, the metal coil on the device heating to a dull red.  
  
Alice flinched and Max gasped, but didn't scream when the coil was pressed to his chest, although the hiss of burning flesh was clearly audible. The Doctor removed the coil and looked at the burn mark that remained behind. "Voice log, Entry 1. Heat tolerance pain threshold, experiment alpha. It has been theorized that the nanotechnology that has integrated with the subjects tissues accelerates the healing processes while allowing for increased endorphins to be released into the blood stream to counteract the pain reflex. It will take some time to observe the healing and if it has been accelerated in any manner. To illustrate this, the subject will be burned a series of times at set intervals, and the comparison between the first and the last as well as the intermediate steps will be examined. Initiating second burn."  
  
Max thrashed against the restraints as the coil was pressed into his flesh again, this time a whimper escaped before he clamped down on his vocal cords. As sweat rolled down his brow, he pulled against the cables that held him in place, and prayed that Berto and Kat would find him quickly. The look of clinical interest on the Doctors face as he tortured him was making him ill. There was no hate there, or anger. Just, curiosity, like Max was nothing more than a particularly interesting bug he had found. In an effort to find something else to look at, Max switched his gaze to Alice. She sat in the chair, and he noticed that her face seemed drained of blood. She licked her lips quickly, and swallowed hard. Not the face of a person indifferent to torture. In fact, if Max was reading her right, this was the first time she had seen real torture. She looked as if she would be sick at any moment. He tried not to think about the fact that he would really like to be sick about this time as well. Liquid fire seared his flesh three inches to the right from the last stripe.   
  
An hour later, Max sagged, spent. "Are you about done?" he rasped, his voice harsh from the screams the increasingly exotic methods the doctor used had pulled from him.  
  
"Hmm? Oh yes, this will do me quite nicely for now. Just need to pull a blood sample." he suited actions to words and jabbed Max with a needle. Max was surprised that after everything else a pinprick could hurt that much. "Now, I think its time for lunch." With that thought the Doctor left the room.  
  
"Aren't you going to join him?" Max snarled at Alice, who still sat silently in the chair she had brought into the room. He realized that while one liners and witty comebacks were his stock in trade, he really was not in the mood for any of them. Alice made a noise that was somewhere between a whimper and a gurgle, and rushed for the sink where she was noisily and violently ill. Sides heaving, she wiped her mouth and turned to look at Max. He had a thought as he stared into her eyes. "This isn't what you expected, is it?" he asked.   
  
"What did you think? Everything was going to be wine and roses?" he continued to growl at her, concentrating on how angry he was. It distracted him from how badly he wanted to break down and cry. "Welcome to the big leagues little girl. This is how the adults play."  
  
Alice licked her lips several times in succession and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something. Her face was still pale and one arm cradled her midsection which was sore from retching. "I….I don't know what to say." She finally whispered. "I thought that I could do it. Dad had such big plans for me. He talked about how his little girl had finally grown up enough that she could join the family business." She didn't quite look at Max, instead focusing just over one shoulder. "It was supposed to be easy, I could see where he and Uncle Sammy kept making mistakes about you. I thought it wouldn't be hard to show them what they did wrong, and…and make Daddy proud of me." Alice shook herself out of her little reviere and finally focused on Max' face. "Oh God… I can't do this…I'm so sorry…"   
  
She started towards him, her hands reaching for the restraints when the decision was taken out of her hands. The right had wall of the lab blew in, knocking her off her feet. Kat emerged from the billowing dust, looking right and left, hands held ready and her body crouched down.   
  
"Kat." Max called to her, then broke into a coughing fit from the dust.  
  
"Max!" she rushed over to his side, and blanched when she took in the burn marks. "You look like hell Steel. Lets get you down from there." She started working on the cable around his right wrist.   
  
"Forget that for now. Stop her before she gets away!"   
  
"Stop who?"  
  
"Dread's daughter." He turned to where Alice had been thrown, but she was no longer there. The cable around his wrist suddenly released, and he slumped forward, dropping into Kat. She slipped an arm around him to help support him, accidentally jostling the criss cross of burn marks across his chest. With a groan he stiffened, then passed out against her. 


	5. Chapter 5

Alice made her way through the halls tears blurring her vision. She had to get away from here. If the N-Tek people didn't get her, her fathers would. The lab would be monitored and when they saw what she had almost done, it would be the end. Being flesh and blood wouldn't slow her dad down too much, not for betrayal. Not when she had talked so big about how she could do what he couldn't, catch and keep Max Steel. There she had been, ready to let him go just because the Doctor's expiriments made her ill.   
  
"Alice." The voice caused her to stop dead in her tracks.  
  
"Who's there?" she called, voice cracking slightly in panic.  
  
"It's me Alice." Vitriol stepped around one of the corners. He was still dressed in the gear he'd been wearing to fight forest fires, Coveralls, hip-waders, soot stains and all.   
  
"Adam?" she stopped dead, her jaw hanging open for a second, then she shook it off and dropped back into a fighting stance. "Even if it is you Adam, I'm not going to surrender." She cursed the waver in her voice and the tears that continued to stream down her face.  
  
"Alice, I don't want to fight you and I'm not asking you to surrender. I just want to talk for a bit. Two minutes, that's all I ask." He stepped forward, his arms held down at his sides.  
  
Alice looked left and right quickly, and saw that they were alone. "It was you wasn't it? You're the one who brought N-Tek here. I knew I shouldn't have picked a place on the docks."  
  
"They showed me the security tape and I recognized you immediately. I remember you liked the water, and that we used to, ah.." he blushed hotly "come out here to 'park'. A quick check told us which buildings were owned by Destiny Enterprises. After that it was easy."  
  
"It's been a long time since we dated Adam. I'd hoped they wouldn't talk to you about this, or that you wouldn't remember." She blushed a little as well at the memories. It had been a few years ago, and while they had parted on amicable terms, it had not been long after their break up that her father had put a price on his head, sending him to shelter with N-Tek. Thoughts of N-Tek and her father cooled her blushes in a hurry. "Look, I don't have much time, I have to go…"  
  
"Hey!" Vitriol said it forcefully enough to bring her up short. "What I wanted to say was that, well, you didn't have to stay with you're fathers organization if you don't want to. I know you, and I know you can't enjoy this kind of work. Me working for your dad is what broke us up in the first place! N-Tek gave me a chance, and I was, well, I was hoping I could convince you to take that chance as well."  
  
There it was, her way out. All she had to do was accept that offer, and she'd be sheltered from her father, he wouldn't be able to punish her for her betrayal. She'd have a real chance to make amends. Alice found herself disturbingly tempted. It would be so easy just to take it, and hide.  
  
"Adam, thank you, but I can't. You're right, I can't do this for my father, I'm just not cut out for it, but I can't go to N-Tek either. I still owe him that much. I, I screwed things up in there, badly. I was going to let Max go, then the cavalry arrived. But it's too easy an out and… and I don't deserve it."  
  
"You were going to let him go?" that took Vitriol by surprise. "When John catches up to you, you do know what's going to happen don't you? Please, take the offer and you'll be safe!"  
  
"I said I can't Adam! Now please, I really have to go or they will catch me here!" she pleaded with him, her eyes wide.  
  
"Alice," he sighed. "I never could make you change your mind when it was made up. Alright." He stood to the side and gestured. "Go. I never saw you."  
  
"Thank you Adam." And she was gone.  
  
VVitriol ran a hand through his hair and looked down the hallway after her. She was in for a rough future, and next time they met he wouldn't be able to offer her an out. He turned his back and started down the hallway back towards the lab. That was in the future. For now, he had friends he had to look in on and to take home. 


	6. End Game

"So they rounded up everyone except Dread and that Doctor, right?" Josh sat propped up in his bed, chest wrapped in layers of bandages. Roberto and Cat shared the loveseat against the far wall, and Vitriol had brought a chair from the kitchen which he straddled, arms crossed over the back as he leaned forward. The kidnapping and subsequent rescue had been two days earlier, and while Josh wasn't happy about the forced bed rest while the burns healed the other three were firm on him following the Doctors orders and didn't let him up and about.  
  
"And Psycho. No one knows where he went either." Roberto said.  
  
"Great. So in other words we rounded up all the second stringers, but the principle players got off scott-free." Josh groused. "I really wanted to have a talk with that Doctor about his bedside manner."  
  
"Hey Adam, how come this is the first we've heard about Dread having any blood relations? You didn't mention any of that when you were giving evidence against the organization." Kat squirmed around to look at him as she asked the question.  
  
"Well," he answered easily, having had a few days to get his story straight. "She wasn't involved with the organization much. She lived with her mother. I met her only once when Dread had me playing tagalong bodyguard to a social function in Europe. The only reason I remembered her was she seemed awfully young to be a member of the board at Destiny Enterprises." He lied.  
  
"Well, it's a good thing you have a great memory for small details. Thanks man." Josh meant that sincerely. "So this Destiny Enterprises? What happens with that?"  
  
Roberto took up the thread of conversation again. "Well, according to everything we could find, they're based mostly out of Europe so that puts it in Rachel's court so to speak. As the new head of European operations, she's got the fun job of keeping them under surveillance."  
  
"Guess this means she's only going to get to call home every six months now instead of every other week." Kat jibed.  
  
"Oh she'll be busy, but I'm sure she'll come up with some reason to call back here more often than that." Roberto raised an eyebrow at Josh, who blushed.  
  
"Old news bro. We played that game out years ago."  
  
"Yeah Hermano? Then why are you turning such an interesting shade of…umph!" whatever Roberto was about to say was cut off by the pillow Josh hurled at his head.  
  
  
* * *  
  
John Dread sat at his desk, his eyes dark as he read through the report. Destiny Enterprises had been compromised, Max Steel was safe within N-Tek, and the lab in Del Oro was a complete write off. Finally he put the paper down and looked at the two men standing before him. "Well, this is not the best news you could have brought me gentlemen." He said softly.  
  
Eyes gleaming in his silver face, Psycho didn't say a word, just stood there with his arms crossed. The Doctor shifted his glasses up on his face, and said. "On an up note, I have managed to keep the nanoprobes alive in the blood sample that was extracted. They seem to be responding nicely to the field generator that was put together. With more research we may be able to duplicate them as well."  
  
"Keep working on it Doctor. You are dismissed."  
  
The doctor turned and left the office, leaving the two other men in silence which stretched out. Finally Dread took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe this happened Sam. My own daughter. I just can't believe what I heard on those tapes."  
  
Psycho uncrossed his arms, and walked over to a cabinet against the wall. He poured himself a stiff shot of whiskey, and a second for Dread before returning to the desk. "She wasn't cut out for this John. You didn't keep her on a short enough leash when she was a kid. I've worked with her for the last three months on this project, and I can tell you that she just isn't ruthless enough for it."  
  
"You're right old friend. I should have paid more attention to what was happening when she was a kid. Has there been any sign of her?"  
  
"Half an hour after N-Tek showed up we show her making a massive withdrawl from the main bank in Del Oro. She emptied her account completely, and that was not an inconsiderable amount. Her name appeared on a ticket at the international airport, but she did not disembark at the listed destination, nor was she still on the plane when we had people check it. She could be anywhere by this point."  
  
Dread took the tumbler of whiskey and drained it in a single gulp. He looked at the two ice cubes left in the glass, then up at Psycho. "Find her. Find her and bring her home. There's a lot I need to discuss with my loving daughter." His voice was cold enough to make the ice seem warm by comparison.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Fin  
  
  
iDone for now, let me know what you think please! For those who were looking for deathless romance, sorry, I can't write that way. I know I've played merry hell with the canon of the series, if I've gotten some names wrong (did we ever get a real name for Psycho or Vitriol on TV?) drop me a line and let me know! I am willing to make some changes, however, this was written for my enjoyment so if you don't like it, flame away but don't expect me to be crushed by it. Laters all! /i  
  
Vespera 


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